The Rest of Fantastic Fest: 10 Mind-Melting Movies To Look Out For
Sadly, Fantastic Fest has come to an end, leaving all of us demented genre fans in the lurch until next year. Arguably, the festival is best known for its infamous secret screenings where the audience has no idea what they’re going to be watching when they finally settle down inside the theater. As of late, those offerings have been more mainstream, premiering films like Dream Scenario and Saw X that we already know will have a substantial wide release.
The real reason to attend Fantastic Fest is to find the diamonds in the rough that would otherwise fall by the wayside if these more obscure titles didn’t have this kind of platform. Most, if not all, of the films selected weren’t necessarily on anyone’s radar before the festival season began. There are definitely some familiar names below that horror fans should recognize. But there should be some enticing offerings that you’ve never heard of before until now. ‘Tis the season!
Infested (aka Vermin)
For many, the creepy crawly premise for Sรฉbastien Vaniฤek’s directorial debut Infested (aka Vermin) may be too much to stomach. Arachnophobes beware, this movie may be your worst nightmare come to life. Set in an apartment building nestled in the French suburbs, Infested follows a young grifter named Kaleb making ends meet by selling shoes to sneakerheads in the neighborhood. He also happens to have a soft spot for insects, leading him to purchase an exotic spider from his friend Ali. Predictably, the spider manages to escape out of its new home in a shoebox.
Granted, one spider isn’t enough to terrorize the characters for the entirety of Infested‘s 100-minute runtime. So, why not have the venomous arachnids multiply at an incredibly alarming rate? Again, this is not for the faint of heart or for anyone with a real fear of spiders. Unless you’re willing to view Vaniฤek’s horror show as some sort of twisted therapy.
Crumb Catcher
Written and directed by Chris Skotchdopole, Crumb Catcher, which had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest, can best be described as a depraved take on a classic episode of The Twilight Zone. The title refers to a wondrous new contraption that promises to keep any dinner conversation running smoothly, regardless of any unwanted interruptions by your overzealous waiter. Ridiculous, and completely superfluous, you say? That’s what newlyweds Shane (Rigo Garay) and Leah (Ella Rae Peck) think when John (John Speredakos), the inventor of the crumb catcher, shows up at their house in the middle of the night. As you’d expect, the conversation becomes more and more interesting and alarming as John ramps up his sales pitch. Produced by New York City genre giant Larry Fessenden, Crumb Catcher takes some of the more intriguing aspects of Richard Kelly’s The Box and turns up the heat until the tumultuous final act.
Kim’s Video
If you think you know the story of what happened to the infamous movie collection housed at Kim’s Video on St. Mark Place in the East Village, think again. After being forced to close its doors, the mysterious businessman and owner, Yongman Kim, made a very strange arrangement with the Sicilian city of Salemi to house the entire archive in order to preserve its massive cultural and historical significance. Rather than keep the collection in New York, this option seemed like the best solution at the time, for various reasons.
Kim’s Video director David Redmon became more and more obsessed with rescuing the collection to ensure that it could be enjoyed by cinephiles for years to come. Along with co-conspirator Ashley Sabin, Redmon embarked on a global journey that would take him to Manhattan, Italy, Korea, and back again. Kim’s Video isn’t just a documentary. It’s an adventure film that travels through the collective memories of our past to remind every budding cinรฉaste that watching movies doesn’t have to be a passive experience.
Riddle of Fire
Riddle of Fire is a kids’ movie made for adults. Moving away from a typical coming-of-age tale, writer-director Weston Razooli crafts a momentous story about three rebellious kids on a mission to steal the latest state-of-the-art video game console. The only problem is that Mom set up a parental control password that proves impenetrable. Forced to actually go outside, these lovable hooligans embark on a long and winding adventure to retrieve the password so they can grab the controller and get back in front of the TV as quickly as possible.
The slinky visuals and ’80s-inspired synth score make Riddle of Fire play like it’s a distant memory that’s being accessed again years later. There’s a sense of nostalgia without rehashing the movies most of us were raised on. Part Goonies and part Son of Rambow, Riddle of Fire still manages to stand on its own to become one of the clear standouts of the festival season.
Yellow Veil Pictures and Vinegar Syndrome are teaming up for a theatrical release in early 2024, which will also include a 35mm print tour that will play in certain cities.
The Sacrifice Game
As one of two Christmas-set horror films on this list, The Sacrifice Game travels back to the 1970s to deliver a devilish thriller that takes place way before Satanic Panic hit mainstream media. Jenn Wexler (The Ranger) returns with a bone-chilling story about two boarding school students who accidentally get mixed up in a murderous cult engaged in a series of demonic sacrifices. Left alone and unprotected, they have to find a way to put an end to the ceremony before their guts wind up on the classroom floor. There’s a deeper subtext explored in The Sacrifice Game that never upends the sense of camp that this kind of setup needs to succeed.
Spooktacular!
Personally, I had never heard of Spooky World before. Ringleader and founder David Bertolino is profiled in Quinn Monahan’s Halloween-centric documentary Spooktacular! chronicling the rise and fall of America’s first haunted theme park. Meant to be a horrific reimagining of Disney World, Spooky World helped change the public’s perception of what Halloween could be. As a result, a holiday that used to only be for trick-or-treating one night of the year became a month-long celebration that now rivals Christmas in terms of mass merchandising appeal. Former rockstar effects artist Tom Savini is featured heavily, along with genre fixtures Kane Hodder, Elvira, Robert Englund, Dee Wallace, and … Tiny Tim?
Strange Darling
Shot in crisp 35mm, J.T. Mollner’s Strange Darling had plenty of Fantastic Fest attendees talking after its World Premiere. The entire film hinges on the firecracker chemistry between Kyle Gallner (Smile) and Willa Fitzgerald (MTV’s Scream) and its mysterious, out-of-sync structure. The whirlwind pacing never takes its peddle off the gas, and there’s always a sense that the movie and at least one of the characters are always one step ahead of you. Strange Darling is a seductive riddle of a film that challenges our own stereotypes surrounding sex and gender. Who winds up on top may surprise you.
There’s Something in the Barn
Depending on your particular penchant for Yuletide horror, Magnus Martens’ There’s Something in the Barn is a serviceable blend of horror and comedy that doesn’t do any favors for the elf community at large. Determined to make a new start for his family, Bill (Martin Starr) moves his wife and kids to Norway after inheriting his uncle’s remote estate. From the start, the locals aren’t exactly kind to their new neighbors. So, Bill decides to throw a rip-roaring Christmas party in their barn that they eventually plan to convert into a very unsuccessful AirBnB.
The celebration angers a mystical elf living in the barn, who begins tormenting the family with the help of several other drunken elves determined to drive them off the property for good. Through a series of mostly effective gags and clever social commentary about America’s fascination with guns, There’s Something in the Barn manages to be just entertaining enough to add to your 25 Days of Christmas horror list when December comes around.
Tiger Stripes
Tiger Stripes marks the first time a female director from Malaysia, Amanda Nell Eu, has ever premiered a film at the Cannes Film Festival. In another first, the story is centered around a 12-year-old Malaysian girl named Zaffran who is suddenly excommunicated after she begins to experience puberty. Shunned from her friends and the community, Zaffran starts undergoing a series of changes that drive her further and further into the grip of the surrounding jungle. Rough around the edges at times, Tiger Stripes is still an effective interpretation of the werewolf myth that combines Southeast Asian folklore with the same themes found in the cult teen horror classic Ginger Snaps.
We Are Zombies
The Canadian collective RKSS (Turbo Kid, Summer of 84) makes their return to Fantastic Fest with a new take on the zombie slacker subgenre, We Are Zombies. Inspired by Jerry Frissen and Guy Davis’ underground comic book The Zombies That Ate the World, an overconfident group of stoners plan an ill-conceived heist to steal from an evil corporation taking advantage of families that have suffered a loss due to a family member becoming a member of the undead. The politically correct term is “the living-impaired” actually.
Diving into a world that has already been living with zombies for years, We Are Zombies features plenty of blood-squirting gore that also features a subtle running commentary about corporate greed. With RKSS at the helm, zombies are still relevant somehow after countless parodies and endless sendups. For comparison, We Are Zombies falls somewhere in between Shaun of the Dead and George A. Romero’s underappreciated Land of the Dead.
Year after year, Fantastic Fest continues to give audiences a chance to find interesting titles from all over the globe. Keep on the lookout for these titles and more over the coming months.
Categorized:Editorials
